IL-17 Receptor Signaling Negatively Regulates the Development of Tubulointerstitial Fibrosis in the Kidney

Figure 6

Diminished activation of KKS in the obstructed kidney of Il17ra^−/− mice. Surgically unilateral ureteral obstruction was performed in WT and Il17ra^−/− mice (). At day 7 post-surgery, (a) total kidney homogenate was assessed for Klk1 expression by immunoblot analyses. β-Actin is used as loading control. Representative immunoblot image from two independent experiments. (b) Il17ra^−/− mice () were either treated with bradykinin (300 nmol/kg/day) or left untreated (PBS injected) starting on day −1 (relative to surgery) and then daily for the next 8 days. On day 0, mice were subjected to UUO and evaluated for TF at day 7 post-surgery. WT mice () were subject to UUO and left untreated. The TF development was evaluated by Masson’s trichome staining of UUO kidney sections. Photomicrographs are representative of 2 independent experiments. Original magnification: 20x. (c) The total collagen content in the kidney was measured by hydroxyproline assay. The renal transcript expression of (d) Mmp2 and (e) tPA was assessed by qPCR. In the scattered plots, each dot represents individual mouse and error bars indicate . The data are pooled from two independent experiments for (a–e). value ≤0.05 (), ≤0.01 (), ≤0.001 (), and ≤0.0001 (). ns: not significant.

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